This invention relates to a device for stabilizing a patient against involuntary movement during an epidural procedure.
Epidural anesthesia or analgesia is one of the most widely used regional anesthetic procedures employed for surgery, obstetrics, postoperative analgesia, and chronic back pain management. In such epidural procedures, anesthetic or analgesic drugs are delivered to the spinal cord by placing the drugs outside of the membranous sac containing the spinal cord using a syringe.
Most often the patient is stabilized against movement by positioning him or her face down on an operating or examination table. However, some patients, such as pregnant women, cannot lie face down on a table, and the epidural procedure must be performed while they are in a sitting position. In such a position patients are not stabilized against movement, and any movement during the epidural procedure can have adverse consequences.
The present invention is an epidural stabilization device for restraining a sitting patient against movement during an epidural procedure.
The epidural stabilization device includes an adjustable face cradle, an adjustable chest support, and an arm support.
The face cradle, chest support and arm support are attached to a support post.
A support leg extends downwardly from the support post and, preferably, is adapted to be received and held by an IV clamp of the type normally attached to an operating or examination table.